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THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



91 



play of forces like that which moulds the materials 

 contained in a piece of Begonia-leaf into the shape of 

 a young Begonia. In the one case as in the other^ the 



aggreff;^te vitalized molecules composing the tissues show their 



I the 



atoms 



ude to 

 cult to 



^at it /; so, 



1 



ot 



crysti 



coned 



K 



proclivity towards a particular arrangement; and whether 

 such proclivity is exhibited in reproducing the entire 

 form^ or in completing it when rendered imperfect, 



matters not/ 



But the reader may ask. What is the meaning or 



vr^ ingt explanation of this power of reproducing their like 



1 ciirterentiab which is possessed by all living things ? 

 >Owcr of rearE in order to answer the question we must look rather 



►mpelled to ret to what occurs amongst the lowest organisms than to 



1 



:ihc form asir the phenomena presented by higher plants and animals. 



Manifestly too, The fundamental nature of the process of reproduction 



^tion of the on is revealed most clearly by a consideration of the pro- 



1^ we ff cesses of ^fission' and 'gemmation/ What we know 



about these processes^ clearly shows that all parts of a 

 lower organism when separated from the parent have 

 the power of developing into living things of a similar 



I _ L 



kind. This, as we have already pointed out, is pre- 

 cisely analogous to the process . whereby a fragment 



I 



ny minor pof 



I 



\\^hen m 1 

 from the sa: 

 creasing ii^ 



icrcabii^D ^ cisely analogous to the process . whereby a fragment 

 of the I broken from a pre-existing crystal and thrown into a 



:ribing 



this rfS 



-ial fo"^ 



" ffC 



i 



the 



ten" 



-•• to sig""> . 

 1 stiuctur'^ 



suitable solution gradually grows into a perfect crystal, 

 similar to that from which it had been derived. But 

 organisms are dynamical aggregates amongst the mole- 

 cules of which new motions and new arrangements 

 are continually being assumed, in the course of which 



* F * " ■ ■ . P J r ■ 



there frequently arises a ^spontaneous' division of 



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